The Weekly Geek: “Star Wars: The Musical”

If you’re a fan of Star Wars and the bombastic theatricality of musical theater, you should probably drop what you’re doing right now and go watch the entire production of Star Wars: The Musical, a 1996 high school play that is transcendental in its brilliance. Salon has posted the entire glorious work, which is actually about 100 times more professional and well performed than any other work that combines Star Wars, “high school” and “musical” in its description.

There is an early droid duet featuring C-3PO and R2D2 arguing about their escape pod. There is music from high-class operas like Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera, only with schlock sci-fi lyrics and dancing stormtroopers. There are takes on popular songs, amazing costumes, and kids (with talent!) belting out ballads about droids and the force and Mos Eisley. It is amazing, clever, and surprisingly watchable, provided you aren’t blown out of your office/room from the sheer force of nerdery on display here.

From Salon:

We are proud to present you, for the first time ever, the entire Star Wars musical: conceived, written and directed by Garrin Hajeianm, Kevin Bayuk and John Zuckerman. Hitting the sweet spot of teen geekiness, Star Wars the Musical is a must-see for anyone who loves both George Lucas and monologues carried out entirely in song. Garrin was also kind enough to subtitle the entire play, so what the A.V. club didn’t pick up, you now can.